August 11, 2015, 01:11:32 AM
Okay...I don't know what the hell I've been stalling for, but here is the story of those last three posters...that has stopped me COLD from bidding (or even looking) on other posters.
(To skip the sob story, skip down to the row of these: ******)
I have been struggling to pay off financial aid loans and credit card debt I accrued while going to nursing school and not working (I had been a writer for the newspaper, but they would not let me work part time. I couldn't handle full time and school so...). The student loans are slowly, slowly shrinking. The credit card debt I actually was able to pay off a big chunk of when I refinanced one of my houses last November.
Once I joined the forum (last January), I learned about a few other options out there of where to acquire posters and was feeling a bit more confidant financially. I started buying some of the things I had only dreamed about before, but still kept buying the smaller things as well. More than once I found myself having to charge my orders when I'd get carried away. A little here, a little there. Other expenses came up--trips (New Orleans for my 50th birthday in April, Maui coming up at the end of September, and I just had a back-to-back trip to Los Angeles and the Bay Area). Flights, hotels, and car rental had to be paid for. All charged. And then one of my houses became vacant (and is still vacant while I clean/fix it up), requiring me to somehow pay the mortgage on it. Yikes!
Then came the whole pursuit of the original OLGA film, WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN. I had to have it. I spent hundreds ($302) on one trimmed copy...and then, at another auction, got an untrimmed one (along with HG Lewis's 2000 MANIACS one sheet--not in the best condition) for a grand total of $705 (that's with buyer's premium, tax, shipping and the credit card fee, and whatever else was tacked on). I had already been spending some bigger dollars than I am used to spending on other posters here and there...but the $705 was staggering to me. I was gonna NOT buy anything else...but did anyway, especially when I saw the big summer auction at Heritage. Oh my stars! There were so many, many things I wanted/needed that were on my "Possible Dreams" list, including the poster that was at the very top of the list, the 1956 re-release of "King Kong". There were several other posters in my top ten list as well. I was beyond excited, but already panicked about my re-escalating debt.
The '56 "KING KONG" was my ultimate prize and I focused on that most of all. Sure, I'd prefer a 1933 original; release one sheet, but that will never happen. The '56 was the re-release poster I liked 2nd best. The art had been used before, but the coloring of the '56 version interested me more than the other versions. I had seen one a few years earlier on eBay that was priced about $200 and it languished there for weeks--no takers. O' if only I had had the money back then... But I was determined to get this one.
And I did---spending way,way, WAY TOO MUCH money in the process. Oh crap-a-rama! With buyer's premium, I paid $956 for it. WTF!?! It killed me to pay that much for it, especially when I remembered seeing it for only $200 not that long ago.
Anyway, that stressful/fierce bidding competition for KONG rattled me. I was totally unhinged by it. I was NOT letting KONG get away from me and the next thing that had been on my long list of posters to buy was also not going to get away from me...which is how I paid (with BP) a staggering $836 for Doris Wishman's "NUDE ON THE MOON". Holy F&#@!!!
I was punched in the gut after that. Most of the other things I wanted--things from my top ten--were scheduled for the 2nd day of auction. NUDE ON THE MOON had NOT been one of those. NOTM would normally have been something I'd have let pass by...but I did not have my wits about me after the KONG war. UGH! And with nearly $2000 (!!) already spent, I wasn't going to be able to buy anything the next day probably. Why, o' why had I bought NOTM? Waaaagh!
The next day came and I tried to have a level head. As soon as the bidding started and something I hadn't had on the list of things I was going to bid on (I'll tell you why it wasn't on my list in a moment) came up, I freaked out and went into bidding frenzy again--and got it. It was THE GREEN SLIME for $167.30 (with BP). Only after I won--actually, during the bidding phase when I was the high bidder, did it occur to me that the reason it was not on my written list to bid on was because I had just won one less than a week earlier! D'oh! And the auction clock counted down, no one had any last bids against me,and it was mine. ARGH!
Other things I really wanted (including that poster that had been No. 2 on my Possible Dream list) came up. I bid, but had to stop...I was usually the 2nd place bidder on a lot of those posters---but I just had to let them go, one by one... UGH! All because I made two stupid purchases and spent way too much for the third. DANG!
The invoice was $2151.08....eeek! The highest invoice before that had been in May, for $1,019.19...but I had won 7 posters (instead of 3) then, including some real beauties. But I was now truly, TRULY maxed out. In fact, while I was in Los Angeles (on a trip scheduled/paid for before my house became vacant and before the big auction) I realized I needed a few hundred bucks in CASH for an event I was going to...and I had completely forgotten to get some before leaving. Not having any reserves to pull from in my regular account, I thought I'd try to get a cash advance from one of my credit cards. I went to the bank the card was issued from, but didn't know my pin number since I never get cash advances. They called and the people at the credit card line said i was okay to get the money out--but for whatever reason, the transaction kept getting declined...even with the credit card people still on the phone line talking to the bank people. My only option was to open an account there and get a personal loan...the minimum loan offered was $2000 at a crazy interest rate---but I had no choice. UGH!
I can laugh about the loan now--but at the time I was just soooooo upset with myself for allowing myself to get so poster crazy and charging up all the debt I had gotten OFF of my cards. Dang! I realize the money I spent on those posters may not be a big deal to some of you out there--but to me, it was a fortune. KONG is now the most expensive poster I've ever purchased with NUDES ON THE MOON in 2nd place. The previous most expensive had been an original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD a few years ago for $650 or so. Even THAT was a fortune to me. OUCH! I have NO ONE to blame but myself...
******
Anyway, here are the 3 posters that did me in...
I don't know when I'll even THINK about looking at posters to buy again... Groan...
CHEERS!
August 16, 2015, 05:13:16 PM
How did I decide which KONG was right for me? I just looked at what was out there and what was available. The versions from 1933 were out of my league. There were some foreign ones (there are some Italian re-releases that are gorgeous). Back in the day, when foreign posters were a dime a dozen, I had a chance at getting them. Stupidly at the time I was sticking with just US posters --they'd all fit the standard frame size-- so i passed. Now that I've come to my senses and changed my tune about foreign posters, those are sky high. The 1956 art had been used before, but the coloration on the 56 poster really worked. It seemed the most "authentic" of all of them out, aside from the 1933 originals--if that makes any sense.
Okay...I don't know what the hell I've been stalling for, but here is the story of those last three posters...that has stopped me COLD from bidding (or even looking) on other posters.
(To skip the sob story, skip down to the row of these: ******)
I have been struggling to pay off financial aid loans and credit card debt I accrued while going to nursing school and not working (I had been a writer for the newspaper, but they would not let me work part time. I couldn't handle full time and school so...). The student loans are slowly, slowly shrinking. The credit card debt I actually was able to pay off a big chunk of when I refinanced one of my houses last November.
Once I joined the forum (last January), I learned about a few other options out there of where to acquire posters and was feeling a bit more confidant financially. I started buying some of the things I had only dreamed about before, but still kept buying the smaller things as well. More than once I found myself having to charge my orders when I'd get carried away. A little here, a little there. Other expenses came up--trips (New Orleans for my 50th birthday in April, Maui coming up at the end of September, and I just had a back-to-back trip to Los Angeles and the Bay Area). Flights, hotels, and car rental had to be paid for. All charged. And then one of my houses became vacant (and is still vacant while I clean/fix it up), requiring me to somehow pay the mortgage on it. Yikes!
Then came the whole pursuit of the original OLGA film, WHITE SLAVES OF CHINATOWN. I had to have it. I spent hundreds ($302) on one trimmed copy...and then, at another auction, got an untrimmed one (along with HG Lewis's 2000 MANIACS one sheet--not in the best condition) for a grand total of $705 (that's with buyer's premium, tax, shipping and the credit card fee, and whatever else was tacked on). I had already been spending some bigger dollars than I am used to spending on other posters here and there...but the $705 was staggering to me. I was gonna NOT buy anything else...but did anyway, especially when I saw the big summer auction at Heritage. Oh my stars! There were so many, many things I wanted/needed that were on my "Possible Dreams" list, including the poster that was at the very top of the list, the 1956 re-release of "King Kong". There were several other posters in my top ten list as well. I was beyond excited, but already panicked about my re-escalating debt.
The '56 "KING KONG" was my ultimate prize and I focused on that most of all. Sure, I'd prefer a 1933 original; release one sheet, but that will never happen. The '56 was the re-release poster I liked 2nd best. The art had been used before, but the coloring of the '56 version interested me more than the other versions. I had seen one a few years earlier on eBay that was priced about $200 and it languished there for weeks--no takers. O' if only I had had the money back then... But I was determined to get this one.
And I did---spending way,way, WAY TOO MUCH money in the process. Oh crap-a-rama! With buyer's premium, I paid $956 for it. WTF!?! It killed me to pay that much for it, especially when I remembered seeing it for only $200 not that long ago.
Anyway, that stressful/fierce bidding competition for KONG rattled me. I was totally unhinged by it. I was NOT letting KONG get away from me and the next thing that had been on my long list of posters to buy was also not going to get away from me...which is how I paid (with BP) a staggering $836 for Doris Wishman's "NUDE ON THE MOON". Holy F&#@!!!
I was punched in the gut after that. Most of the other things I wanted--things from my top ten--were scheduled for the 2nd day of auction. NUDE ON THE MOON had NOT been one of those. NOTM would normally have been something I'd have let pass by...but I did not have my wits about me after the KONG war. UGH! And with nearly $2000 (!!) already spent, I wasn't going to be able to buy anything the next day probably. Why, o' why had I bought NOTM? Waaaagh!
The next day came and I tried to have a level head. As soon as the bidding started and something I hadn't had on the list of things I was going to bid on (I'll tell you why it wasn't on my list in a moment) came up, I freaked out and went into bidding frenzy again--and got it. It was THE GREEN SLIME for $167.30 (with BP). Only after I won--actually, during the bidding phase when I was the high bidder, did it occur to me that the reason it was not on my written list to bid on was because I had just won one less than a week earlier! D'oh! And the auction clock counted down, no one had any last bids against me,and it was mine. ARGH!
Other things I really wanted (including that poster that had been No. 2 on my Possible Dream list) came up. I bid, but had to stop...I was usually the 2nd place bidder on a lot of those posters---but I just had to let them go, one by one... UGH! All because I made two stupid purchases and spent way too much for the third. DANG!
The invoice was $2151.08....eeek! The highest invoice before that had been in May, for $1,019.19...but I had won 7 posters (instead of 3) then, including some real beauties. But I was now truly, TRULY maxed out. In fact, while I was in Los Angeles (on a trip scheduled/paid for before my house became vacant and before the big auction) I realized I needed a few hundred bucks in CASH for an event I was going to...and I had completely forgotten to get some before leaving. Not having any reserves to pull from in my regular account, I thought I'd try to get a cash advance from one of my credit cards. I went to the bank the card was issued from, but didn't know my pin number since I never get cash advances. They called and the people at the credit card line said i was okay to get the money out--but for whatever reason, the transaction kept getting declined...even with the credit card people still on the phone line talking to the bank people. My only option was to open an account there and get a personal loan...the minimum loan offered was $2000 at a crazy interest rate---but I had no choice. UGH!
I can laugh about the loan now--but at the time I was just soooooo upset with myself for allowing myself to get so poster crazy and charging up all the debt I had gotten OFF of my cards. Dang! I realize the money I spent on those posters may not be a big deal to some of you out there--but to me, it was a fortune. KONG is now the most expensive poster I've ever purchased with NUDES ON THE MOON in 2nd place. The previous most expensive had been an original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD a few years ago for $650 or so. Even THAT was a fortune to me. OUCH! I have NO ONE to blame but myself...
******
Anyway, here are the 3 posters that did me in...
CHEERS!
August 16, 2015, 05:13:16 PM
How did I decide which KONG was right for me? I just looked at what was out there and what was available. The versions from 1933 were out of my league. There were some foreign ones (there are some Italian re-releases that are gorgeous). Back in the day, when foreign posters were a dime a dozen, I had a chance at getting them. Stupidly at the time I was sticking with just US posters --they'd all fit the standard frame size-- so i passed. Now that I've come to my senses and changed my tune about foreign posters, those are sky high. The 1956 art had been used before, but the coloration on the 56 poster really worked. It seemed the most "authentic" of all of them out, aside from the 1933 originals--if that makes any sense.
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